You've Got Mail
by ThroughTheDark99
Summary: Over the summer, Patricia and Eddie broke it off, then didn't talk to each other until the school year started again. Patricia thought of him as a dust bunny, someone she'd never want to speak too, nor see, again. But what she didn't know was that Eddie was the mysterious stranger she'd always talk to online.


"...What?"

Patricia Williamson glanced down at the golden hardwood floor. She wished she could do this in person; breaking up with her boyfriend over the phone was the hardest thing she'd done yet. "You heard me. I'm breaking up with you."

"But...why?" Eddie's voice cracked, and Patricia cringed. It was already hard enough splitting up with the boy who gave her her first kiss; hearing the 'bad boy supreme' on the edge of tears made Patricia want to throw herself off a cliff. "We were . . . we were going so well. What happened? What's wrong? Is there . . . is there another guy?"

"No, no, there's not!" Patricia denied quickly, shaking her hands back and forth even though Eddie was five thousand miles away and couldn't see her. "There's — there's not someone else. I swear, there isn't, it's just . . . it's just . . . look, Eddie, it's me, not —"

"Oh, save the _It's-me-not-you_ shit, Patricia," Eddie sneered, making Patricia look less and less like her usual façade by the second. "If you're gonna break up with me, just do it! I can take it! BREAK UP WITH ME!" he screamed into the phone, and Patricia felt the tears slide down her cheeks.

"Eddie, stop it, it's not —"

"JUST BREAK UP WITH ME, PATRICIA!" Through Eddie's screams, Patricia wished more and more that he would call her Yacker; the nickname she had opposed for ten months was now the name she wished to hear in another mouth other than her own.

"Eddie," Patricia breathed, tears steadily falling down her face. "Just listen to me, please." She started to pace around her bedroom, glancing at everything she owned: her bed, laid with black and red sheets, the same she used at Anubis; posters of her favorite bands, and even a cheesy Teletubbies poster her younger sister had owned before she passed away five years ago; Piper's bed, sitting parallel to Patricia's; and the calender on the wall, reading July 25th, 2012.

Eddie took a shaky breath, and usual hot-headed, tough Patricia seemed to lose some of her traits. "I'm giving you two minutes." She inhaled quickly, knowing her time was limited to explain her actions.

"Okay, okay, just look. After I left America, I was thinking about us, and everything we've been through, you know? That dance when the library was opened and you called yourself a tin can . . . and when I tricked you into thinking we were going on a date and you told me you thought you were falling in love with me —"

"Well, I am, Patricia!" Eddie pleaded, interrupting her. "I'm in love with you! And you told me you felt the same way, so why are you —"

"JUST LISTEN!" Patricia was the one who was screaming now. "I — I thought — this whole thing was moving too fast and it wasn't working out and —"

"Fine, Patricia, just fine," Eddie muttered, his voice muffled. Patricia knew he was crying now, and it pained her more and more with every word. "Well, I guess that's it, then. We're done. Finished."

"No, Eddie, wait!" Patricia called, but she was too late.

The line went dead.

And that was how they broke up; no explanations, no talking things through, just screaming and fighting over the phone. Patricia regretted her decision immediately; all she wanted to say was what she was afraid of where her feelings were leading her because she had never been in love before, but now she knew that she was too late.

.

.

She closed her eyes when she reached the front doors. She knew that in only a few moments, she'd have to see everyone again: Joy, Mara, Jerome, Alfie, Fabian, Amber, Nina, and _Eddie_, the person she dreaded seeing most.

Patricia knew that the time would come when she'd have to see her ex-boyfriend again, but she didn't want it to have to be _today_, the first day back at Frobisher Academy. It would ruin her happy streak she'd had for the past couple of weeks.

But she sucked it up and walked through those doors. Patricia had avoided reuniting with everyone in the parking lot just so she wouldn't have to see Eddie's ugly face; if she stayed behind any longer, Sibuna might begin to think that Rufus had re-arosen from the Underworld and had kept Patricia captive again, threatening her with murderous flies.

Her happy streak continued when she opened the door to see no Eddie and the familiar faces of Sibuna standing in the foyer. They each cried, "Patricia!" and ran up to tackle her in a hug. In all the excitement, Patricia didn't even realize that Sibuna was one short.

Then they had all eaten and caught up; Patricia had learned that Alfie dreamt he was one of Trudy's famous cookies, which would definitely be on Patricia's mind for months to come.

Her long happy streak had ended when Fabian brought in Eddie from their room. "Hey," he had greeted, and Patricia greeted him back grudgingly. The next few hours seemed like a blur... Patricia had lied about her breakup with Eddie, and, surprisingly, he hadn't argued with it.

The rest of the night came and went: Patricia learned that their _first_ American, Nina, wouldn't be coming back, and their _third_ American, KT, would be moving in tomorrow. She learned that Amber's birthday was also tomorrow and that this weird-ass girl — Oak, Patricia thought her name was — followed Amber's every move.

"Okay, so what was that about?" Amber complained after they had finished eating supper and walked up the stairs to their bedrooms. "I mean, first I learn that my best friend stayed in America for the year, and now my favorite couple has broken up! WHAT IS HAPPENING?"

"Second favorite couple, you mean?" Mara teased, and Amber laughed; but Patricia wasn't in the mood for jokes.

"Seriously, Amber, drop it. We broke up during the summer, and it was completely mutual. I promise. No screaming, no fighting, no nothing. Leave it alone."

Amber groaned, and started to walk back to her room. Just for a second, but Patricia might have been mistaken, she thought she heard Amber stifle a sob when she walked into her room.

"So, what do you think of the new girl?" Mara questioned as she started to cover herself with blankets. "Katie, was her name?"

"KT," Patricia corrected snobbily. "Ugh. What a stupid, stupid name. Stupid Americans with their stupid traditions and their stupid names."

Patricia herself started to crawl into bed when Mara giggled. "What was that?" snapped Patricia, turning off the light so she didn't have to see Mara's face. Patricia turned around, facing the wall, but she could still hear Mara mutter, "Oh, Patricia, Patricia. Holding a grudge against Americans now, are we? KT may be a strange name, but our other two Americans didn't have them. Which made me think: why did Anubis House specifically get stuck with the Americans? Why not Isis House or Osiris House? I mean . . ."

Mara continued to babble on for another couple of minutes, and Patricia grudgingly held her eyes open, pretending she was asleep, until she heard the soft snore of Mara's sleeping form that confirmed she was asleep. Grinning to herself, she turned her mobile phone on for light and logged into her laptop; she smiled when she heard:

**Patricia,**

**You've got mail!**


End file.
